Curriculum Integration

class desegregationhas been identified among the most revolutionary pedagogical strategies in the interdisciplinary onrush to education. Julie Thompson Klein (2006) explained that in broadcast integrating,Disciplinary and subject boundaries are blurred and connections magnifyIntegration becomes the purpose of education, non simply a tool. In student-centered curricula, the students worlds, not a instruct- or government-mandated syllabus, become the heart of teaching.Students even participate in selecting the themes and problems they will study, and they often work together collaboratively. (Klein 2006, p. 14). Educators first explored the concept of compound curriculum in the 1890s. Over the years, there cod been numerous educational researchers, e. g. , Susan Drake, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, James Beane and Gordon Vars, who have described various interpretations of curriculum desegregation, referring to the curriculum as interwoven, connected, thematic, interdisciplinary, mult idisciplinary, cor associate, linked and holistic.Many educators, e. g. , Robin Fogarty, go beyond a iodine definition of curriculum integration and view it instead as a continuum. Furtherto a greater extent, curriculum integration aims to improve students interdisciplinary understanding, defined asthe cognitive centre to integrate knowledge and modes of thinking in two or more disciplines to produce cognitive advancement e. g. explaining a phenomenon, solving a problem, creating a product, raising a new question in looks that would have been unlikely through single disciplinary means. (Klein 2006, p. 5) While the true origins of the theory of integration are numerous and wide-ranging, a general consensus identifies the work of German educator Johann Herbart (1776-1841) as the germ of the modern integration movement. From Herbartian beginnings, the first half(prenominal) of the twentieth century saw a development of curriculum integration through the project approach, core c urriculum movement, and problem-centered core curricula (Klein 2006). Each relate varying levels of priority shifting from separate subject knowledge encyclopedism to problem-solving experiences that integrated disciplinary knowledge.That period also reflected the influence of John Deweys views on the social purposes of education. Educators interested in integration began to consider the schools constituent in expanding democracy and encouraging the development of value and skills necessary for the common life. (Beane 1997) Beane (1997) defined curriculum integration ascurriculum design that is concerned with enhancing the possibilities for personal and social integration through the brass of curriculum around significant problems and issues, collaboratively identified by educators and young people, without realise for subject area boundaries. (Beane 1997, p. x-xi) Teachers who adopt this kind of curriculum have to fall in several shifts in the traditional teacher-student re lationship, such as sharing stopping point making with students, focusing more on student concerns than predetermined content guidelines, learning along with students in unfamiliar areas, and taking student constructions of marrow seriously. The upside to taking on such a challenging role is the improved relations with students in these classrooms.By placing students at the center of all learning endeavors, these teachers tend to have fewer curricular conflicts and classroom management issues. (Beane 1997) Curriculum integration is clearly far from taking the easy road, but it may well be worth it. Curriculum integration can be described as an approach to teaching and learning that is based on both philosophy and practicality. It can generally be defined as a curriculum approach that purposefully draws together knowledge, skills, attitudes and values from inwardly or across subject areas to develop a more sinewy understanding of key ideas.Curriculum integration occurs when comp onents of the curriculum are connected and related in meaningful ways by both the students and teachers. Curriculum integration is more than a clustering of related learning outcomes. The selection of learning experiences should be based on the extent to which they promote progress or broaden and confirm understanding. There is no one best way to integrate the curriculum however, the following key requirements should be met for successful integration.